EVANSTON, Ill. — At the Big Ten wrestling championships March 3-4, Minnesota proved once again that there are chinks in the armor of wrestling's most prolific juggernaut.

After defeating Iowa — winners of nine of the last 10 national titles — twice in dual meets this season, the Golden Gophers outscored the Hawkeyes and the rest of the conference with 154 points to win the Big Ten championship.

Illinois also sneaked in front of Iowa to finish in second with 130.5 points to Iowa's 129.5. It was their best finish since finishing second to Iowa in 1958.

Iowa did have four conference champions in 125-pounder Jody Strittmatter, 133-pounder Eric Juergens, 141-pounder Doug Schwab and 157-pounder T.J. Williams.

But Minnesota won because they had all 10 of its wrestlers qualify for nationals and five in the finals. No Golden Gopher finished lower than fifth and Minnesota had two champions in 149-pounder Jared Lawrence, who was voted outstanding wrestler of the championships and heavyweight Garrett Lowney.

"Balance was definitely a big deal," Minnesota wrestling coach J. Robinson said. "We had 10 guys in the hunt and five guys in the finals, and that really won us the meet. Balance is the whole key. When you've got 10 guys that can be in the hunt, that takes some stress off of everybody."

Illinois also has to credit most of their success at the tournament to balance. The Fighting Illini qualified nine of their 10 wrestlers and got five grapplers in the finals. Seniors Nate Patrick and Pat Quirk both won conference crowns. Quirk, at No. 5, was the lowest seeded champion in the tournament.

Illinois wrestling coach Mark Johnson was named Big Ten coach of the year for his team's performance, both in the regular season and the tournament.

"This was our best performance by far," Johnson said. "We're just taking steps, like Minnesota, towards feeling like we can beat Iowa. Any time you do well against them, it builds some confidence."

Michigan finished fourth, scoring 109 points while qualifying eight wrestlers. Despite qualifying all ten of its wrestlers for the NCAA tournament, Ohio State finished fifth with 104.5 points.

Wisconsin finished sixth in the conference with 75 points, led by senior Donny Pritzlaff, who won his third straight Big Ten title at 165 pounds.

Despite topping Iowa for the third time this season, Robinson won't let his Golden Gophers believe the Hawkeye monster is dead, especially with the national tournament being held at Iowa's Carver Hawkeye Arena March 15-17.

"With Iowa we just try to take it one meet at a time," Robinson said. "We know Iowa is still the reigning king, and they won't give anything up. Our guys know not to think Iowa is dead."